24 November 2006
Toastmasters: Your Body Speaks - A Great Example
Posted by Jeremy under: BC; Business; Personal; Toastmasters; Vancouver; del.icio.us .
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m a member of Toastmasters, in Vancouver. I’ve been participating in Toastmasters for about a year now and it’s been a wonderful learning experience. One of the side-effects of being a Toastmaster is that when I listen to someone public speak I’m also watching them public speak.
This morning I was reading the Industrial Brand Creative Blog and found a link to a great video of Malcolm Gladwell giving a speech at the TED Conference in 2004.
Your Body Speaks
Project 5 in the Toastmasters’s Communication and Leadership program is called “Your Body Speaks”. The emphasis is on being aware of your body language and using it to your benefit while speaking.
In the video above, notice how Gladwell’s hands are moving without meaning in the first few minutes of the talk. As he continues and finds his groove, his body language becomes much more deliberate, his gestures larger. He uses the stage well, by moving around slowly and keeping the viewers’ attention on him.
Gladwell’s speech drew me in immediately - I really enjoyed it. If you have the time, watch the video a second time while concentrating on his body language.
5 Comments so far...
Aaron
Says:
5 April 2007 at 1:29 pm.
Have you completed the ‘Your Body Speaks’ project in the Communication manual? What was the topic of your speech? I’m thinking of talking about Body Language, which relates to the project, but is a very broad subject.
Jeremy
Says:
8 April 2007 at 10:54 am.
Aaron - I haven’t completed the “Your Body Speaks” project, as I’ve been terribly busy and haven’t been attending lately. I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things in May and get through the rest of the manual.
My recommendation would be to pick a couple aspects of body language and drill-down on them rather than try to cover too much in a 5 min presentation.
Good luck!
xiaoxiaosun
Says:
20 June 2007 at 7:57 am.
Dear Jeremy,
I’m xiaoxiao from Shanghai, China. I joined Toastmasters club last month, I just finished my C4 speech.
I’m so happy to see your blog.
Liudmila
Says:
13 February 2008 at 6:41 pm.
Hi, Jeremy
I am going to deliver my fifth speech tomorrow.
Trying to decide what to talk about………
Good luck,
Liudmila
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